Redskins fans voting early and often

The Washington Redskins are one game over .500. They have given up one more point than they have scored. They stand a good chance of sitting out of the playoffs in January. But if the season ended today, 20 Redskins would be headed to the Pro Bowl.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” offensive right guard Randy Thomas, one of the Redskins’ chosen many, told the Associated Press.

Based only on the results of fan voting so far, eight of 11 NFC starters on both offense and defense would be Redskins, along with all four special teams players. Fan voting on NFL.com continues through Dec. 9 and counts for one-third of the total. Players’ and coaches’ votes each count for one-third as well, so the Redskins landslide could be stemmed in late December.

“We encouraged our fans to vote for the Pro Bowl, and they responded in record numbers,” team spokesman Zack Bolno said. “Our fans are always enthusiastic and supportive of the Redskins and they demonstrated their passion by voting for their favorite players.”

Trivia time

How many players did the Dallas Cowboys send to last season’s Pro Bowl?

Not worth the hassle

Attendance is down this season for the Kansas City Chiefs, who have lost 19 of their last 20 games. A local mechanic, Nick Cooper, told the Kansas City Star that if someone gave him free tickets, “I guess I’d go.”

Cooper rested his forearms on the fender of a Ford Expedition and thought it over.

“Then again, there’s parking,” he said. “And food. And I can sit home and see it better. Nah, I have better things to do.”

One and done?

Mini-baseball was a big hit in the World Series, with lots of people very excited about the tight and taut three-inning exercise that enabled the Philadelphia Phillies to wrap up the title after rain originally suspended Game 5 in the middle of the sixth inning.

Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff got a little carried away with the less-is-more-theme when he proposed the first round of the playoffs be shortened to one game.

“I’d make it one-and-you’re-out for the first series,” Wolff told the Associated Press. “It would be exciting. It would be great.”

Has Wolff mentioned his grand plan to baseball Commissioner Bud Selig yet?

“No,” he said, “I’m afraid to do that.”

A game’s origins

Reader Conrad Casler of Claremont writes:

“In your Saturday (Nov. 8) Totally Random article concerning author Julian Norridge’s assertion that the U.K., not the U.S., invented baseball as delineated in a Jane Austen novel: Phooey!

“One has to go back several millennia, not decades, before Austen or Abner Doubleday (arguably) dreamed up Bud Selig’s ill-gotten bread and butter.

“The first words in the Old Testament’s first book, Genesis, settle the dispute. You should look it up!” ’In the big inning ... ‘ “

Trivia answer

Thirteen.

And finally

From Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, on quarterbacks who receive praise for the way they “manage” a game: “Talk about a backhanded compliment. It’s a euphemism for ‘a guy I don’t want on my fantasy team.’ ”

-- Mike Penner